KOMO is reporting that there was a police shooting death at Gas Works Park last night, at approximately 2:45 am:

[Officers] were approached by a security guard who said a transient had attacked him in the park.

The guard told officers that the man had lit a small campfire in the park and attacked the guard when he told the man to extinguish the fire and leave the park.

A crisis intervention team was called to the scene in an attempt to de-escalate the confrontation, but the man suddenly broke a glass bottle and brandished it at officers, said Patrick Michaud of the Seattle police.

Officers stunned the man with a Taser – twice – but it did not stop him.

The suspect, still armed with the broken bottle, then advanced on a group of officers. Two officers opened fire, striking the suspect multiple times, Michaud said.

The suspect was taken to Harborview, where he died several hours later. The officers have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, per standard protocol in shootings. Gas Works Park is closed for the investigation.

Seriously? Why don’t we just shoot everyone with mental health issues?!? How ’bout using a net, or a sedative dart? Shoot to kill???? SPD, this has got to stop ! People are suffering out there and our civil servants have to understand that just because not everyone is wealthy, they have basic human rights…. to not be killed.

Well I guess when you attack a police officer after being repeatedly told to drop your weapon you end up dead. How does anyone know whether he was deranged or violent and drunk. None the less it has cleaned out the Gene pool a bit. I suppose some people would like the police disarmed like London Bobbies in that case one has the option of moving to England.

Fri, August 1 at 4:23 am

gentlebrenda said,

“Cleaned out the Gene [sic] pool a bit” ?!?!? Wow. You reflect the “new” Seattle, and our so-called human “evolution”…the 2011 Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation concluded Seattle police resort to force too quickly and routinely use too much force. The Justice Department also found disturbing but inconclusive evidence of biased policing. The man who died was threatening the police with a broken glass (alcohol) bottle, not a gun, and was obviously drunk. If you are ever in need of help, may you be surrounded by compassionate people, not those who shoot first, ask questions later.

Fri, August 1 at 5:30 am

Ag98103 said,

Sorry, but I do begin to wonder if old or new or any Wallingford/Seattle input can be counted on here. Does everyone who posts live here? I have a hard time believing my neighbors support shooting to death a man armed with a broken bottle.

There can well be reasons, like the wearing effects of heat, for instance. Shooting even a drunk and violent person multiple times (two guns against one bottle) causes me to question the judgement of the law enforcement officers.

No I am old school Seattle and what the Police did was the right thing. I am 4th generation in Seattle. Perhaps you are the newcomer that feels like compassionately embracing broken bottle waving deranged drug addicts.

Fri, August 1 at 12:21 pm

SL said,

A broken bottle can be as deadly as a knife, particularly in the hands of a psychotic. Sounds like this “transient” was on PCP, not just drunk. Either way, you forfeit your right not to be killed if you threaten to assault someone — anyone — with a deadly weapon.

The article states that the bum had already attacked a security guard, that a crisis intervention team had already been brought in to try and de-escalate the situation, and that after the bum started brandishing the bottle, officers Tasered him TWICE, to no effect.

There may be cases in which reckless or trigger-happy cops have run amok in Seattle, but this doesn’t sound like one of them. It doesn’t sound like there’s much else the officers could have done without endangering themselves needlessly, and they are human beings too.

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